


Life Is Like a Beat That You Can't Follow

by BroadwayItBitch



Category: IT (2017)
Genre: Beverly Marsh Lives With Her Aunt, Gen, Minor Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, idk what else to put, non-meaningful kisses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 00:27:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16074548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BroadwayItBitch/pseuds/BroadwayItBitch
Summary: Mike is hesitant on kissing Bev for the school play.(Sequel to 'I Know Where I've Been')





	Life Is Like a Beat That You Can't Follow

They were going through ‘Without Love’ again today. Mike was nervous. About kissing Bev. About if he’ll get the lyrics wrong, but he had all of the songs he was in memorized already. It was just him, Bev, Alexander (Who preferred to just be called ‘Alex’), and Taylor, as well as the drama director, Mr. Whitman. The scene was set, a makeshift cell was made for the kids who played Tracy and Link (Taylor and Alex) and a chair with ropes attached (Beverly and Mike). Some of the actors just finished working on ‘Big Doll House’.

 

“Okay, let’s get Michael, Taylor, Alexander and Beverly for ‘Without Love’.” Mr. Whitman speaks up and the actors take their places. Bev sits in the chair as Taylor gets in the cell.

 

The music starts and they say their lines before singing. Taylor and Alex sing their verses, then it’s Mike’s turn.

 

“Living in the ghetto, black is everywhere you go. Who’d’ve thought I’d love a girl who’s skin was white as winter snow?” Mike sings out.

 

Then Bev sings her line. Mike swears that she sounds like Amanda Bynes’s Penny.

 

“I’m yours forever, never set me free! No, no, no!” Mike and Bev sing together. This is their kiss scene. They lean in, but Mike hesitates. The music stops abruptly.

 

“Michael!” Mr. Whitman yells.

 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Whitman,” Mike apologizes.

 

“Let’s redo it.” Mr. Whitman restarts the audio. They repeat the lyrics. Then the kiss scene happens again and Mike hesitates kissing Bev once more. “Michael, you need to kiss her!”

 

“I’m-” Mike is cut off by the after-school bell.

 

“You’re all dismissed.”

 

They’d been rehearsing for two hours a day after school. Mike was always excited to go rehearsals. He had become good friends with the other cast members, other than Bev and Richie. Mike was getting his backpack when Bev spoke up.

 

“Hey, um, I was hoping if I could maybe come over to your place to practice?”

 

“Um… sure,” Mike wasn’t completely sure. His parents loved his friends, but if you bring a friend home without letting Jessica or Will know? You’d have a good couple days of the cold shoulder.

 

“Could I get a ride? My aunt’s not gonna be here until seven.”

 

“I think so, c’mon.”

 

They walk out of the school to Mike’s beaten up car. It was given to Mike as a birthday gift by Eddie. Mike fixed it up with the help of the asthmatic boy and his father. It was a great bonding moment for all of them, Will getting to know Eddie more and Eddie getting to know Will.

 

“You’ve gotta get new seats, Hanlon. I can’t deal with the damn towel anymore,” Bev complains as soon as they buckle up.

 

“That would cost like, five hundred dollars. If you have that kind of money, get back to me,” Mike bites.

 

This makes Bev laugh. He loves hearing his friends laugh. But one of his friends is out of town. Well, boyfriend. Stan is on a birding expedition in Minneapolis for a week with his bird watching club. He was only gone for three days and Mike felt so… lost.

 

“Hey, you okay?” Bev asks.

 

“Yeah, I’m good. Just a little tired I guess,” Mike lies. She doesn’t believe him, but Bev doesn’t pry. She just lights a cigarette and blows the smoke out the window. “Use the ashtray this time other than your soda can.”

 

“Never!” Bev exclaims and taps her cigarette ash into said soda can.

 

\--------------------

 

“Mom? Dad?” Mike calls out. There’s no response. Jess and Will must be out. “C’mon, we can practice in my room.”

 

Bev follows Mike up the stairs to his bedroom. On the walls were family photos, awards won by either Mike or Will, and even some pictures of the Losers. Once they get to his room, Bev decides to ask what was going on.

 

“Mike, are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine,” Mike lies again.

 

“No, you’re not. All day you’ve been acting weird.”

 

“I’m not acting weird,” He denies. Bev had had enough.

 

“Mike, we know how you’ve been acting lately. You’re more quiet than usual, you’re barely eating your lunch, you haven’t even beep beeped Richie,” Bev lists off.

 

“Maybe I’m thinking about how rehearsals will pan out. Is there something wrong with that?” Mike is close to yelling his head off.

 

“You’ve been acting like this since… since Stan left.” Bev connected the dots. “Are you just missing Stan?”

 

“Yeah,” Mike whispers, “I miss him so much, Bev.”

 

“Oh, honey, I know.” Bev hugs the taller man. She’s pretty much engulfed in his frame. “Is that why you haven’t been very productive during rehearsals?”

 

“Mmhmm,” Mike murmurs. But there was something missing.

 

“That doesn’t exactly explain why you haven’t kissed me in rehearsals,” Bev points out. “You don’t need to tell me, but I’d like to know.”

 

Mike stays silent for a little while, thinking about what to say.

 

“I… I feel like if I kiss you, it might be different for me and Stan and the other Losers. If it’ll-”

 

“Mike, it won’t be different. It’s all acting. I mean, remember when Bill and I kissed in the play in third grade, it was just some childish fun. Ben is okay with me kissing you, because he knows we’re just acting. Is Stan okay with it?”

 

“Yeah,” Mike says.

 

“Then there you go. We only have like, four shows? So I bet four kisses would be fine to not change our dynamic,” Bev replies, making Mike snicker.

 

“So practice?” Mike offers and Bev nods.

 

He puts the audio on his phone and skips to him and Bev’s part.

 

“I’m yours forever, never set me free! No, no, no!” They sing. Then they kiss and Mike stops the music.

 

“So? How did it feel?” Bev asks.

 

“I didn’t feel… anything,” Mike replies.

 

“I told you it didn’t mean anything. It’s all harmless fun,” Bev reassures.

 

“I guess so.”

 

“Let’s go again, without the kissing,” Bev says, and Mike plays the music again.

 

They go through the song without any issue. Mike was so proud and embarrassed of himself, but once Stan gets back from Minnesota, he’ll be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Love, Abbey Elizabeth


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